


All I Need Is This

by Daiako (Achrya)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 20:08:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14678541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Achrya/pseuds/Daiako
Summary: Kei is a hybrid, a throwback, someone born with just enough creature blood to be hunted for what he is. As a safety precaution he moves to Tokyo and into an apartment full of people like him. There he meets the human bodyguard assigned to his case...inspired by InuxBoku.





	All I Need Is This

**Author's Note:**

> Another of my writing challenge fics. Prompt was 'Who are you?'

 

Kei squinted up at the building in front of him, mouth curving down into a frown. It was a nice enough looking place, identical to all the apartment buildings on the campus with it’s brick facade, white painted trim around it’s identical rows of windows, height (it looked to be ten floors but Kei knew that looks were deceiving in places like this), and cobblestone walk up. There was nothing to distinguish it from the other apartments, save the number ‘4′ plaque next to the door. 

The grass was perfectly manicured and dotted with spots of bright flowers, decorative fountains, and places to sit. If one ignored the huge brick wall, topped with iron spikes and broken up by a huge wrought iron gate, surrounding the campus it looked very normal. Boring. 

No one who didn’t already know about it would assume it was a haven for hybrid monsters to avoid their own kind. Protection via being partially cut off the the world, and consenting to be followed by a bodyguard near 24-7 going forward. Giving up freedom in hopes of living through the ongoing war between full blooded monsters and the hybrids in the wake of the latter group revealing themselves to humans. 

Hybrids, or Throwbacks to the less politically correct, humans who had active monster heritage, had already been hunted by the full blooded monsters. They were considered too much of a threat to the delicate balance between the human world and supernatural, something that might tip humans off to the existence of there being more out there. For centuries hybrids had lived in fear, hiding away any non-human traits in hopes to avoid the hunters who lurked in the shadows, eliminating them without a thought, but with the rise of technology and social media, of all things, hybrids were able to seek each other out, band together, organize, and, finally, step into the public eye. 

All of that had happened while Kei was a baby, nearly twenty years ago. He’d missed all the upheaval and panic, the total shift of the state of the world as the truth about hybrids and monsters came pouring out, but he was living with the consequences. A lot of the hybrids in Japan were being rounded up and brought to this place, or ones like it, leaving behind their human families and lives. 

He’d known it was coming, had seen the writing on the wall as the attacks on people like him became disturbingly common. He hadn’t been sure about coming out to this place, it was farther from Sendai than he needed to be, but between his brother setting up at the campus closer to there and Kuroo securing him a place in Tokyo…it had just worked out better this way. 

 Hopefully was working out better. 

He stepped inside the air conditioned building, shifting the weight of his bag on his arm, and stepped up to the front desk. The man behind it, young looking with brown hair, glasses, and black wings, smiled up at him broadly. “Hello! Visiting or one of the new move ins?” 

“Moving in. Tsukishima Kei.” Kei muttered, eyes flicking to the man’s wings again. A tengu, maybe? He’d never met one (that he knew of), and monster traits could manifest in a lot of different ways, but that would be his best guess.

It was strange to see someone so open with their nature. He’d been raised as a human, made to keep the other parts of himself tucked away at all costs lest he come up on some hunters radar, but this man seemed to think nothing of it. His wings rustled as he sifted through a pile of folders on the corner of his desk and his long black nails, talons really, clicked softly in the quiet of the lobby. 

“Ah, here we are. Kuroo’s friend. I’m Takeda, your liaison to Nekomata, the man in charge of this campus.” 

Kei grimaced slightly and nodded. Friend was overselling the connection to Kuroo by a lot, in his opinion. Acquaintance, maybe, as much as Kei was acquainted with anyone. Kuroo was just been one of the first people he’d met in an online group for Hybrids and Hybrid friendly humans. That didn’t equate to friendship, even if the older man had pulled some strings to get him a spot at this facility.   

A folder was pulled from the stack and pushed across the desk to Kei. There were, paperclipped to the top, three plastic cards. He tugged them free, quickly noting that one was a keycard, one was a train toll card, and the other was…well he didn’t know. But it had the name of the facility, Tokyo Hybrid Apartments, on the front and his name on the back. “That’s all the basic information about the campus and it’s facilities as well as your apartment. Just let me call down your guard to show you to your floor.” 

Kei looked up, mouth open to refuse the escort but Takeda was already on the phone. Kei made a face; the bodyguard requirement was the major issue with this set up for him. The idea that a human with a gun and a little magic training was supposed to do more to protect him from a Hunter than he could was laughable. Humans, actual humans, were fragile and breakable. His parents had been proof of that. His mother completely human and his father having only recessive monster DNA but caught in the crosshairs of the Hybrid and Fullblood conflict because of their sons; where had that gotten them? 

What had they been able to do except be hurt?

How was the bodyguard they assigned to him going to be any different? At least Kuroo was a Turned, even if he’d started out otherwise, but as far as Kei knew all the rest of the guard here were perfectly normal. 

It was stupid to even think a human had a chance. 

“Ah, here he is.” Takeda said, standing up and gesturing off to the side. Kei looked over his shoulder, bracing himself to meet what he was certain was going to be some stupid swaggering meathead who didn’t realize how far in over his head he was. 

What he found was a man about his age, or maybe younger, shorter than him and leanly built, trim waist and long legs accentuated by the close fitted cut of his black suit. His hair was a messy green-tinted brown, his eyes were big and nervous, and his face was…sweet. He had freckles, for fuck’s sake. Kei tried to envision him confronted with a demon or spirit and could only picture him screaming, crying, and dying. 

“You can’t be serious.” Kei said, twisting back to stare at Takeda, eyebrows arching. “This guy is supposed to protect me?” 

Takeda blinked, expression flickering to confused to stricken to disappointed and, finally, blank of all emotion. Kei frowned harder; what was all of that? 

“Well-”

“It’s fine Takeda.” The freckled man said, sliding up to the desk at Kei’s side. “I’m not much to look at, but I hope you’ll trust me to guard you anyway.” 

Kei wanted to look away from his entirely too hopeful face. “I don’t have much of a choice so…who are you?”

A blink then another smile, though this one was tighter around the edges and didn’t quite reach his eyes, which had gone dark and uncertain. He stuck out his hand in greeting and when he spoke some of the warmth was gone from his voice. 

It grated at Kei’s ears. Something about it felt, sounded, wrong. 

“Yamaguchi Tadashi. It’s nice to meet you.”

Kei stared at the offered hand then scoffed. “Whatever. You’re showing me to my room?” 

Yamaguchi’s smile didn’t waver. Kei decided, while only a little childish, that he hated him and his stupid face. “Yes. You’re on the fifth floor. Do you have more stuff to move? I can help with that.” 

Kei shook his head. “Just this.” 

Yamaguchi’s eyes dropped to his lone bag. Kei braced himself for questions but, unsteady, the man just nodded and turned on his heel. “This way. You’ll need your keycard for the elevator, they don’t work without them and they only go to floors you’re authorized for. There’s a sauna, pool, gym, and public kitchen and cafeteria on this floor. The second is for employees who live on sight. The third floor is where resident and guard suites start. I’ll be on the same floor as you, of course.” 

Kei sighed, already imagining how annoying that was going to be. “Of course.”

Yamaguchi tossed another bright grin over his shoulder. “You’re going to have to deal with seeing me a few times a day, I’m afraid. Sorry Tsukishima.” 

_‘Sorry Tsukki!’_

Kei’s brow furrowed, the whisper of… _something_  filtering through his brain only to be forgotten at the sound of his name being called by a familiar voice. He sighed again and, along with Yamaguchi, waited for Kuroo, dressed identical to Yamaguchi’s save the addition of dark sunglasses, to jog across the lobby to them. There was another man with him, smaller with bleached hair and dark roots, attention totally focused on the game system in his hand. Aside from the twitching triangular ears poking out of his hair and the long dark tail trailing behind him he looked completely human. 

“You’re here! Why didn’t you text? We could have met you at the train.” Kuroo asked, slapping him on the back so hard Kei nearly lost his footing. 

Kei tried to bat away the arm draping itself around his shoulders. "I didn't want you to and- Hello Kenma." Kenma raised a hand in greeting but didn't look up. Kei knew better than to take it personally and, in fact, appreciated how subdued Kenma was. If only Kuroo could take after his client. 

“Is this all you have? You hungry? Kenma was about to grab lunch, you can come with. And-oh hey. You’re new.” Kuroo pointed at Yamaguchi. “I thought Bukuto was getting Kei.”

“Don’t call me that.”

No one acknowledged that he'd spoke. 

“He was, but they decided to put him on another case.” Yamaguchi rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. “Today is my first day, actually.” 

"Ohh, a real newbie." Kuroo smiled, flashing fangs and allowing his glasses to slide down enough to show glimmering red eyes. "Been a while since they sent one of you our way." 

“And they stuck you with me?” Kei asked, momentarily distracted from trying to extract himself from Kuroo's grip. He'd gotten a whole solemn talk about how he was a 'unique and difficult case' that would need to be handled carefully, but then they'd stuck him with someone totally green? 

Yamaguchi shook his head. “Not stuck, no. I requested this posting.” 

Requested? What? Kei wanted to ask why someone would want to be his guard, there had to be better options, but Kuroo was pushing him towards a set of doors, and away from the elevators, and it was impossible to get a word in once he started going on about the other guards and how they were getting a big influx of residents. 

Yamaguchi followed at a more sedate pace, expression one of bemusement. 

The afternoon passed in a rush, Kuroo insisting he go to the on-site store and at least get some dishes and basics for his apartment which somehow went from 'basics' to sheets, cleaning supplies, solitaries, and some food, then showing him every nook and cranny of communal space, introducing him to more people (many of them hybrids who made no attempt to hide their true forms) that Kei could ever hope to remember at once, and then forcing him to hang around for dinner in the cafeteria. By the time Kei finally stepped into his suite to take in it's open floor plan, the only truly separate room was the bathroom and everything else was separated by the way the furniture was arranged or, in the kitchen's case a bar, and big bay doors that opened onto a balcony, he was tired. 

Far too tired to do anything but send Yamaguchi away and sink into a tub, all thoughts of what would possess a person to willingly ask to be assigned to him. Even among hybrids he, with his wolf spirit blood and moon controlled shifting, was something to be avoided. 

Tomorrow, he thought as he relaxed back into the steaming water and, for the first time that day, let his grip on his glamour loosen. He flicked at the water with clawed fingers and drug his tongue over sharp teeth. His tail flopped lazily over the edge of the tub, sloshing water onto the pristine white tile.

Tomorrow he would find out more about his new bodyguard.  

* * *

“He didn’t remember you at all?” Ukai asked, flicking ash into the ashtray Tadashi had provided him. Tadashi shook his head; his hands, resting on his knees, curled into fists and his breath, harder to pull in than it had been a minute ago, rattled oddly as he exhaled. His eyes burned and something wet burst on the back of his hand. If Ukai noticed he kept it to himself, focusing instead on his cigarette. “Shit. Well, I know the whole reason you were doing this is because you know the guy. if you want to switch postings-”

“No!” Tadashi shouted then, when his boss’ eyebrows jumped up, shook his head again and lowered his voice. “Sorry, but no. It doesn’t change anything. I’m here to protect him and I…I don’t need him to remember me to do that.” 

He'd known this was a possibility. After what had happened to Tsukki…some memory loss was a small price to pay, considering what else his former friend could have been made to give up as an exchange. And it had been years since they’d seen each other, and they hadn’t been friends *that* long. 

Just long enough to change Tadashi’s life and set him on a path there had been no turning away from. 

Ukai’s head dropped back onto the back of the couch as he blew out a puff of smoke. “Good. The only other person willing to watch a werewolf was Bukuto and I’ve already got him assigned to that air spirit that came in today.”

“No need no need.” Tadashi scrubbed at his eyes and hoped Ukai would assume it was because of the smoke. “I’m grateful that you’re letting me do this.” 

“You’re a weird kid Yamaguchi.” Ukai said flatly. “You could at least ask for a raise or something after hearing no one else wants to watch that guy. If you had said you wanted to switch I might have done something pathetic, like begged you to stay.” 

“I don’t want anything but this.” He murmured, attention drifting to the only framed photo he allowed himself, a stark contrast to his sidearm and holster that he'd placed next to it. In it were two boys sitting side by side on a front stoop. One, brown haired and smiling toothily in spite of the band-aids (dinosaur covered, and in neon colors) stuck to his cheek, nose, and knees. The other blond, wearing glasses, and blushing darkly as the brunette squished himself against his side and dripped popsicle juice all over both of them. But he was smiling too. 

Tadashi got the feeling Tsukki didn't smile anymore.  

“Weird.” Ukai repeated. 


End file.
